Chromatic confocal microscopy (CCM) has been intensively developed because it can exhibit effective focal position scanning based on the axial chromatic aberration of broadband light reflected from a target. To improve the imaging speed of three-dimensional (3D) surface profiling, we have proposed the novel concept of swept-source-based CCM (SS-CCM) and investigated the usefulness of the corresponding imaging system. Compared to conventional CCM based on a broadband light source and a spectrometer, a swept-source in the proposed SS-CCM generates light with a narrower linewidth for higher intensity, and a single photodetector employed in the system exhibits a fast and sensitive response by immediately obtaining spectrally encoded depth from a chromatic dispersive lens array. Results of the experiments conducted to test the proposed SS-CCM system indicate that the system exhibits an axial chromatic focal distance range of approximately 360 μm for the 770-820 nm swept wavelength range. Moreover, high-speed surface profiling images of a cover glass and coin were successfully obtained with a short measurement time of 5 ms at a single position.
Keywords: 3D surface profile; chromatic aberration; chromatic confocal microscopy; high-speed; swept-source; wavelength-swept laser.